Regional Boards > Great Lakes and Ohio Valley
I66/Somerset Northern Bypass, Somerset KY
sparker:
--- Quote from: tidecat on June 21, 2020, 09:48:46 AM ---No other state has an appetite for I-66, so the project appears to be dead at a national level.
I also don't know how much political will exists in Kentucky to build the extension all the way to I-75. There was opposition to the original I-66 proposal on environmental concerns.
--- End quote ---
Apparently the original selected "I-66" alignment (circa 2004 or so) from Somerset to London dipped to the south more or less along KY 192 in order to serve the recreational areas at Laurel River Lake, and that alignment passed through some karst formations, resulting in environmental concerns and opposition. AFAIK an alternate alignment for those 30-odd miles, possibly more along KY 80, has yet to be finalized. At this point it's more of an extension to the Cumberland/Nunn parkway than a future Interstate alignment portion of a larger corridor -- even with renewed interest in upgrading the Hal Rogers parkway to the east -- so it's likely to be treated as such rather than the national-interest corridor envisioned by some parties. Since other plans have been made for the potential I-66 paths west of I-65 -- and so far nothing right along KY 80/US 68 has materialized, replaced by an ongoing expressway upgrade of KY 80 west as far as Mayfield, a full cross-state alignment consensus hasn't been reached. So absent coordinated efforts to develop the whole corridor, a conceptual I-66 is at best dormant.
hbelkins:
The traffic volumes along KY 80 between London and Somerset don't warrant four lanes, much less a full freeway. There are passing lanes on the hills and traffic moves very well at 55 mph or greater.
sprjus4:
--- Quote from: hbelkins on June 22, 2020, 01:18:42 PM ---The traffic volumes along KY 80 between London and Somerset don't warrant four lanes, much less a full freeway. There are passing lanes on the hills and traffic moves very well at 55 mph or greater.
--- End quote ---
KY-80 carries between 7,000 and 9,000 AADT. Widening will likely eventually come about as funding is enabled. Other routes with those volumes have seen 4 lane widening, especially on a rural long-distance corridor. If an interstate highway is desired, it will likely be designed to accommodate interchanges, overpasses, and frontage roads, either immediately or right of way for future build.
ibthebigd:
Kind of off topic but what are the numbers for Ky 461 that's the most direct way from the north on I-75?
SM-G950U
DJStephens:
--- Quote from: tidecat on June 21, 2020, 09:48:46 AM ---No other state has an appetite for I-66, so the project appears to be dead at a national level.
I also don't know how much political will exists in Kentucky to build the extension all the way to I-75. There was opposition to the original I-66 proposal on environmental concerns.
--- End quote ---
If I-66 were to be revived, a way should have been found to connect it somehow with the pieces of discontinuous limited access/pseudo expressway routes in West Virginia. Corridor H, King Coal, Coalfields, etc to make it a more logical and useful route. At least part of one of them. Something that might have attracted some regional traffic. Am guessing the two states KY/WV did not plan together to come up with something more encompassing.
In the west, believe the original idea was to connect it to I-24 so it could cross into Missouri and make use of an upgraded US-60. Some overlay/paralleling of existing US 68 and state route 80. Am guessing a route N of, skirting Bowling Green and through Hopkinsville would be very very difficult.
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